Rowing: Western Heights' rowers off to national trials

Five Western Heights High School rowers have been selected by Rowing New Zealand to trial for the under-18 North Island team.

The crew will take on a South Island crew in the first step on the Rowing New Zealand pathway to being part of the elite rowing programme.

As a result of their success at this year's Secondary School Rowing Championships, Bradley Grant, Lewis Morrell and coxswain Keely Gage, winners of the boys under-17 four, will join girls under-17 coxed quad winners Olivia Ashby and Stacey Tamblin and 41 other North Island hopefuls at the North Island trials at the Karapiro High Performance Centre on April 19. Western Heights High School had more trialists selected than any other North Island schools.

The final squad will be confirmed as 4 coxes, 12 girls and 12 boys.

In 2012, a team from Victoria, Australia competed and is likely to do the same this year.

Each girls' team and each boys' team will comprise an eight, a four, a quad, a pair, a double and a single. During the regatta, the 2013 Junior World Rowing trialists will compete with the under-18s. The progression for the rowers after the north versus south regatta is the Junior World Rowing Championships for the under-19s, followed by the under-21 and Youth Cup events, then the under-23 grade competing on the world rowing stage at the Under-23 World Rowing Championships. Rowers then proceed to elite level with the World Rowing Championships, World Rowing Cup Series and, ultimately, the Olympics. Rowing New Zealand policy is to take rowers who finish in the top six places in their event, at any senior rowing regattas.